Boris Becker and Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro celebrate wedding

The setting: Portofino on the Mediterranean coast, Italy’s richest municipality. This is where Boris Becker celebrates his wedding to Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro, who also stood by him during his imprisonment.

Three Wimbledon victories, now his third marriage: tennis legend Boris Becker is married again. The 56-year-old and his partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro tied the knot on Saturday. Becker’s lawyer Christian-Oliver Moser confirmed this to the German Press Agency.

In wedding photos published by “Vogue,” the couple can be seen, among other things, sharing a wedding kiss and cutting the white wedding cake – the bride in a shoulder-free white dress and veil, the groom in a suit of black trousers and a cream-colored jacket over a white shirt, with a bow tie.

The wedding and celebration took place with only 85 guests in the coastal town of Portofino on the Italian Riviera. The couple have “an absolutely private relationship” and only share their “partnership with very close people,” Monteiro told Vogue in an interview on Thursday. “The first people who knew about our engagement were Boris’ mother and his sister, just before Christmas in December. Then we told my family when we flew to São Tomé to visit my father.” The couple lives in Milan.

“We’ve been through so many things together”

The former number one in the tennis world rankings has been together with risk analyst Monteiro, who comes from the African island state of São Tomé and Príncipe, for several years. “I think we have been through so many things together that I have understood what it means to have someone in your life that you want to share your life with. For me, marriage means supporting each other, caring for each other, trusting each other and sticking together,” the 34-year-old told Vogue.

Monteiro also stood by Becker during a trial in London and the subsequent prison sentence. After financial difficulties, the former tennis star had concealed assets worth millions when he went to the insolvency administrator. Becker was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and spent several months in prison in London. He has been released from bankruptcy since April.

Wedding in Italy’s richest municipality

The village of Portofino, with less than 400 permanent residents, is the richest municipality in Italy. With its picturesque harbor, it is one of the favorite vacation destinations of the international jet set. Hollywood couple Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton have vacationed there. Many films, including the US soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful” and even an episode of the crime classic “Derrick” were filmed in Positano. The late Italian media entrepreneur and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had a large villa here.

According to press reports, the wedding took place in a former monastery from the 14th century, the Abbazia della Cervara. The complex, which also has several rooms for overnight stays, is now often used for celebrity weddings and other exclusive events.

Becker’s sons, both from his first marriage, Elias and Noah Becker, celebrated with the couple, as could be seen in the photos published by “Vogue”. The former tennis star has four children from various relationships. He was first married to Barbara Becker, later to Lilly Becker.

Legendary tennis career

Becker himself initially made no comment on the wedding. Since his victory in the 1985 British Open Championships in Wimbledon – as a “17-year-old from Leimen” – Becker has been one of the most prominent German sportsmen. Two more victories followed on the hallowed turf, which he also called his “living room”. In total, he won almost 50 tournaments over the course of his career, including six Grand Slam titles.

But it was in London that Becker also experienced what was probably his greatest defeat: in April 2022 he was sent to prison. However, due to a special regulation for foreign prisoners, he was released after just eight months. However, he is not yet allowed to return to Great Britain. However, according to British media reports, the entry ban will expire next month.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:240915-930-233381/2